Commentary: The Date Represented in the First Episode
The series Downton Abbey is launched, quite literally, by the events surrounding RMS TitanicRMS Titanic and its fateful encounter with an iceberg on the night of April 14, 1912, taking the presumptive heirs to Downton with it and creating chaos with the entail and associated title. Holding such a pivotal role in the series, some mention would seem appropriate as to how the actual events surrounding Titanic unfolded and how they play out in the fictional world of Downton Abbey. More specifically, what date in history is represented by the opening of the series? Overview The story holds legendary, even mythic status on both sides of the pond, and has been portrayed in iconic films including A Night to Remember and the 1997 blockbuster, Titanic, as well as numerous documentaries and mini-series. The events are well known. Titanic, the largest ship of its day and thought by many to be unsinkable, encounters an iceberg on the evening of April 14 and sinks in the early hours of the following morning, taking over 1500 lives with it. The story is so well known that it can easily pass without notice that the timeline is known based on Titanic time initially, and as the reports come out, New York time (US Eastern Time). Thus, in the first episode it is easy to presume that the early morning telegraph message comes on the morning of the 15th. As the timeline in the subsequent section shows, this would have been quite impossible. So which is the actual date on which the opening episode of Downton Abbey intended to portray? Timeline April 14-15, 1912 The following table shows how the events of April 14 and 15 unfolded relative to New York time, local Titanic time, and GMT, the time zone of Downton Abbey. To minimize confusion, all times are represented in 24 hour clock format24-hour clock. Subsequent Notable Events Morse Code at Opening of Episode 1 Presumably meant to say "TO LOR'D''' GRANTHAM''". It's a Y (dah dit dah dah) instead of D (dah dit dit). A mis-key? Presumably meant to say "PASSENGER LIST", full stop, "JAMES". Newspapers Delivered to Downton Abbey Owing to the late delivery, Mr. Carson instructs William to "do the Times first" because he (Lord Grantham) "only reads that at breakfast". The specific issue is difficult to identify from the available image, but most likely is from April 16. The version of the Daily SketchDaily Sketch read by Cora, however is quite easily identified and was published sometime on April 16. Possible Dates April 15 If not for the shift in time zones, the 15th would seem like the day represented in episode 1. The telegraph message comes in during the middle of the night and at least some information is in a delayed morning newspaper. If, somehow, the information did get into the papers this quickly, then the news could come as the complete surprise portrayed. Alas, adhering to the strict timeline of historical events, not to mention the April 16 issue of the Sketch held by Cora, makes it impossible for these events to have occured on the morning of the 15th as the telegraph message would have come in before the Titanic had even sunk, and Daisy was waking everyone up at the time the survivors were still sitting in lifeboats waiting to be rescued. April 16 The 16th at least has the virtue of being temporally possible without resorting to Dr. Who's TardisThe Tardis from Dr. Who. It is also clear that Cora is holding an April 16 issue of "The Daily Sketch". However, this date also has at least two significant problems. First, given that the story of Titanic had been spreading like wildfire, it would seem unlikely that the telegraph message would wait until the middle of the night, or that news would remain a complete surprise until the morning of the 16th. Secondly, on the other end of the timeline, it would seem much too early to know the fates of James and Patrick. The full list of casualties would not be out for almost another week, and even for the wealthy, their first real opportunity to phone home would not come until late in the evening of the 18th New York time, which would be well into the morning of the 19th back in Downton. April 17 If it was already highly improbable that Downton remained sheltered from news of Titanic until the morning of the 16th, it taxes credibility that it could have remained so until the morning of the 17th. In addition, it does not improve significantly on the possibility of knowing the fates of James and Patrick. Conclusion Given the problems with any of these dates, it must be concluded that Julian Fellowes is using the day represented in the first episode to portray a composit of events that in actuality played out over several days to a week. If the 15th is ruled out as chronologically impossible, then the most logical date would be the 16th, since the 17th or any succeeding date does not offer any improvements and becomes even more incredulous. Thus, if a date in fact needs to be picked, it is best represented by April 16, 1912. External links The RMS Titanic Radio Page The Titanic radio operators last transmissions at QSL.net Downton Abbey Series 1 Episode 1 Morse Code at John Grahm-Cumming Blog New York Times, April 16, 1912 at Times Machine of the New York Times References Category:Behind the scenes